Bounty Hunters Wanted

JumboWheat01

So I have gotten the idea of playing a Bounty Hunter stuck in my head. I'll admit, I always enjoy playing more "lawful" rouges, and a kit that pretty much has that theme built into it would be enjoyable. So I'm looking for people who've played Bounty Hunters enough to enjoy them to say some tips and tricks that I can use to help design up my character.

Though of course, some things are already set in stone. He'll be a halfling, naturally, and Single Weapon Style it up, probably with Daggers and Slings as starting points. Because I'm a halfling, gods dammit, if I need to hit something at range, it'll be by throwing things! Or having me thrown!

Abi_Dalzim

I used one in my last Icewind Dale runthrough. Honestly, they're probably better there than in Baldur's Gate, since you have to deal with so many gigantic hordes of enemies, so AOEs are just golden. I can't pretend to be an expert just off of that, but remember, their Special Snares can be delivered at range, while hidden, so be sure and make use of that. Otherwise, I'm not sure there's too much different from a regular thief. Just remember to make the most of your traps. They're overpowered enough by themselves that I don't feel like much else is needed.

Iglosnof

I don't have tons of experience with bounty hunters but I have recently started playing one in Bg1.
I love the concept to be honest. I play my character as a commander, he's the brains of the party. He scouts, makes battle plans, sets traps, backstabs if needed, otherwise stays far away and pelts enemies with arrows from safety like a smart commander would. He's meticulous, organized and highly tactical.

I first maxed trap setting (at level 3) and I must say that the traps do rock incredibly. Setting a regular and special trap together does 5d8+10 damage at level 3 and the enemy has to save with a -4 modifier or get slowed for 5 rounds. I can imagine that in SoD once you hit level 11 you could possibly one shot most tougher enemies with the 6 traps you can set per day. It can be a bit cheesy, sure, but I find trap bombardment fun and tactical.

He has max dexterity and constitution for obvious reasons, then high intelligence and charisma for RP reasons. Average wisdom and strength.

JuliusBorisov

I really advise to have a look at https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/39041/the-solo-no-reload-adventures-of-norgath-dwarven-bounty-hunter-of-candlekeep by @Blackraven - both from game and RP points of view. Also, check https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/30637/bounty-huntress-no-reload, https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/31685/the-thieves-of-the-coast-an-scs-no-minimal-reload-playthrough-with-a-band-of-rogues and https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/32574/were-all-doomed-blackravens-no-reload-scs-runs-latest-charname-streg-half-orc-cleric-thief - Blackraven likes to play thieves and bounty hunters in particular. A solid and exciting writing with lots of insight.

Aerakar

I have tremendously enjoyed both Dwarven (2 runs, one in progress now) and Halfling (1 run) bounty hunter runs. Personally, I prefer Dwarves now over Halflings for the higher strength and tighter mechanical racial bonus spread, but Halflings are such killer thieves it is a difficult choice!

I do like the sling and dagger roleplaying weaponry choices for Halflings. I like short swords also for all of my thieves, and these are typical Halfling arms. In some D&D editions Halflings also use quarterstaffs, but as I am sure you know a lot of people do not like staffs with thieves. I have come around to them for my Dwarves, but I cannot bring myself (yet) with Halflings. The backstab damage difference for quarterstaffs is noticeable higher versus other weapon types (paired with SWS) if you take THS also, not so much without it.

Besides the great threads above, in this thread @Blackraven, @JuliusBorisov and others give various opinions on Bounty Hunters https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/43573/best-race-for-bounty-hunter-elf-or-halfling/p1 . Perhaps it will be useful as you finalize your character.

Lastly, BH traps are not throwable in BGEE unfortunately. They used to be in BG2EE, but I have not played beyond BG since 2.0 came out so I am unsure of any trap changes. I am also not sure if they are throwable in SoD.

Kamigoroshi

This is going to be completely off-topic. But every time I hear someone say 'Bounty Hunter', I think of this:

JumboWheat01

I have never seen that bar before. Where are you from? Maybe it's just a different name for Mounds.

Kamigoroshi

I myself have never heard of Mounds. Bounty is created by Mars, and is pretty much sold everywhere in Europe and Canada.

BillyYank

It's a Mounds knock off. From Wikipedia: "A similar coconut-filled chocolate bar by the name of Bounty is manufactured by Mars, Incorporated and sold in markets other than the United States." Mounds is made by Hershey.

Kamigoroshi

No wonder I never heard of it if they aren't selling globally. :-)

BillyYank

Whenever I hear "Bounty Hunter" I think about this guy.

lroumen

Hershey never really did well in Europe. I only recall the kisses being sold here and there. Europe has so many other chocolate companies.

On topic, i quite like gnome for role playing reasons. They are supposed to be very tinkery. The main usage i find is to trap every area behind where the party has been and then push forward. Helps find the path of where the party has been and on bgee2 it will make bandits easier.

Aerakar

Yes, proactively leaving traps in visited areas is a good habit if you have extra traps before rest or do not expect to use them for whatever reason. I do this a lot and it helps prevent surprises. I like to role-play my BHs as ambush and maneuver masters and this practice fits that profile.

Gnomes make good BHs also, IMO. They do not suffer the strength issue of the Halfling or the dexterity issue of the Dwarf and get some good racial thieving bonuses to boot.

jesterdesu

Maze traps rock against groups as mages (typically higher int) will reappear long before the fighters in the group, allowing you to divide and conquer.

They're strong thieves generally though, with hardly any negative.

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Aerakar

Will have to check this out myself @subtledoctor !